Rebirth
by J. Peterson
Summary: (Sun Lian X Jen Zi; OP) Lian could no more stop loving this woman than she could lift up and carry a mountain from one side of the empire to the other.


**Disclaimer:**  
To the best of my knowledge, _Jade Empire _still belongs to BioWare/EA (and I'd love to see a next-gen remake, followed by a sequel). No profit made, no infringement intended.

xXxXx

The Marvelous Dragonfly deserved its name; soaring as it was high above the mountains and shaking only faintly as the howling winds buffeted its sides. Outside in the freezing cold, snow blurred into mist and blocked anyone's vision, but inside the fuselage, there was clear air and heavy silence; broken only occasionally by Kang's muttering as he guided the flyer higher, further.

The crushing defeat at the imperial palace had removed any threat they had previously posed to Sun Li. He held no worries for their interference and they were free to move about for that very reason, but none of them could face the constant reminders of their failure, and what the price of it had been. During the few days they'd spent in the city after that, Lian herself had attempted to guide and lead as Zi had while they rounded up as many supplies as they could, but it had been clear to her that her leadership was accepted only because she knew the city best. Sure enough, once they'd escaped and reached the forest outside Tien's Landing, the team had become a group; personalities clashing as they argued over what to do, and if they could even do _anything_ with Zi – the last hope for the empire – now dead and gone.

"_We must go to Dirge!"_

_The cry broke through the cacophony of voices and sent them all into silence, and Lian turned to see Dawn Star facing them; head high, shoulders back and a resolute set to her normally peaceful features._

"_What?" she demanded. "Why?"_

"_We must go to Dirge – quickly!" Dawn Star insisted. "There's no time to explain!"_

_Even if Lian had been able to think up a question, there was no time to ask it; Dawn Star had turned on her heel and started running for the forest, with first Sky and then Whirlwind following her before the rest of them broke out of their respective stupors. All she could do was try to keep up._

Now, Lian could see the outline of the massive temple beyond the window - blurred and threatening through the blanket of snow - and felt her eyes sting. While she knew it to be foolish, this place served as a reminder of the loss they'd all suffered. Though she'd been here for mere months as an infant, this was where Jen Zi had come into the world. This was her home, ravaged though it was, and the sight of it made Lian's insides clench until she had to curl up in her narrow seat.

She wondered – just for a second - who Zi might have become if she had been able to live her life here, in peace. No doubt, she would still have held within her the exasperating need to right all wrongs that was apparently second nature; still have been stubborn and in many ways wise beyond her years. A life without war and betrayal would shape her differently, but she would most likely be every bit as captivating as she had been in this one.

_Had_ been. Past tense.

Lian squeezed her eyes shut.

xXxXx

"She's here."

Those were the first words spoken after landing at Dirge; by Dawn Star, who exited the flyer as the last of them, and tensed from head to toe the second her feet touched the ground.

"... what?" Lian spoke softly, since a glance around told her that the others were busy, and she'd been the only one to hear. "Who-"

"You know who!" Dawn Star hissed; eyes flickering everywhere, clouding over for long moments before settling and sharpening. "Zi is _here_."

"Zi is _dead_, cousin," Lian countered with a low growl. "The dead may not be able to move beyond the Wheel, but they do not return to chat with the living!"

"You'd be surprised." Had it not been for the dark circles under her eyes and the lines of pain around her mouth, Dawn Star might have looked amused. "I knew her my entire life. I know her energy better than my own; I know the shift in the world's undercurrents when she's near, I felt a flood of her essence when we approached, and now _I feel her_."

"Not the first time, I'm sure," she muttered sourly.

"You-" There was – for a brief moment – a fire in Dawn Star's eyes that warned of a surprising depth of anger. Then it was gone, and the younger woman took a breath. "Do not compound your pain with something as pointless – as _needless_ – as jealousy, Lian," she cautioned. "Especially a kind for which there is no cause. Zi is my friend; my best friend, and nothing beyond that."

"You mean she _was_."

"I mean that she _is_." A hand clasped her shoulder, and another released the bag that she'd been carrying from her grasp and set it aside. "Alive or dead, she always will be," Dawn Star insisted as she made their eyes meet. "Even if I'd ever felt for her in that way, any fool could see that her heart lies elsewhere."

Lian released a breath, and allowed herself to be guided to a seat on a large trunk. She didn't move away when her cousin sat down beside her, and for a while, the two of them watched in a relatively companionable silence as their comrades raised the tents – with no small amount of bickering between Hou and Whirlwind, and the occasional, halfway manic comment from Kang – while the cold air settled around them as the winds lessened.

"Sky is a good man," she then noted.

There was a soft grunt from her left side, and she felt Dawn Star shift. "Apparently I should revise that statement to '_almost_ any fool'."

Lian felt her shoulders tense, and turned her head to glare at the younger woman. "Is that supposed to be an insult?"

"It's supposed to be the truth," her cousin riposted firmly. "You _are_ a fool if you're truly that blind; Zi loves _you_."

Hearing those words hurt and soothed all at once, Lian mused as she watched the faint twitches travel through the hands she had curled in her lap. Much like ice on a fresh burn, it dimmed the pain, but didn't take it away.

Jen Zi had initially been an enemy in her eyes; a minion of Death's Hand when she'd seen her leave the burning ruins of Two Rivers. The battle outside Tien's Landing had shaken that certainty, however, and forced her to view the young woman in a different way; a way that now let her know exactly what Dawn Star meant about Zi's 'energy', because back then, close and doubting her earlier conclusions, she'd felt it herself; gentle and light, a faint but noticeable hint of peace and power that for some reason immediately brought to her mind a pale, tranquil blue.

She'd been unsettled for days after; even in her rooms at the palace, she hadn't been able to shake the sheer intrigue she'd felt in that moment. In spite of knowing only the very essence of what Zi and her followers wanted to accomplish, she decided that their findings would eventually lead them to her city, and had – as Silk Fox – set watchful eyes on all possible entrances.

Meeting Zi again - this time as Sun Lian - had required all of the self-control she'd honed so carefully through her life. Those eyes had set her heart to pounding in her chest, and she'd been hard pressed to dig through a wave of confusion to find the few things she wished to say; not to mention stifle the urge to either laugh or curse – possibly both – when every line of her own was met with a sharp-tongued rejoinder until her servants were all lying on the ground in sheer shock.

She did remember smiling on her way back to the palace, though. Few were the ones who so openly dared to challenge royalty, and this young woman was fast becoming a puzzle she wanted to solve.

Silk Fox had taken great pains to continue her watch over Jen Zi's misadventures in the Imperial City; at least the ones she weren't present for in person, which grew fewer in number and further between as time passed. Bicker and disagree though they might, Zi seemed to enjoy her company, and Lian found herself looking forward to the times she spent with this low-born enigma as well. Zi was frustratingly stubborn and utterly relentless in her mission, and tended to display biting sarcasm and languid smiles in equal measure. Enemies had her posture firming and her eyes sparking, while children drew out smiles and laughter, or occasionally a hard set of her jaw and long, pensive silences until she found a way to help.

An enigma, yes, but a good-hearted one that refused to turn its back on cruelty or suffering; or back down from a challenge, as the rapid rise of Silver Phoenix demonstrated within the arena walls.

When Zi had first started flirting with her, Lian had hardly been surprised; she'd long since learned to notice the little things, and had seen Zi's gaze follow a pretty girl many a time. She had, however, been utterly shocked to find herself flirting back, and to feel her hands clench around the wood railing whenever Silver Phoenix faced down another Gold Division opponent.

Some two months after the Dragonfly landed in the city, Lian had sat in her night-darkened chamber and stared into the fire; wondering exactly when she had fallen in love. She remembered more than anything the stinging of her tongue that night; a remnant from earlier in the day when Zi had defeated Kai Lan. She had been much worse for wear because of it, and Lian had helped Dawn Star almost forcibly dress her wounds while the stubborn woman protested and wiggled around like a child; insisting that she could take care of them herself.

"_Sit. Still." Dawn Star ordered, and flicked Zi on the forehead. "Or I'll have Whirlwind and Zu hold you down."_

"_You worry too much," Zi asserted for the Nth time, and batted the hand away from her face. "I'm fine!"_

"_You're bleeding from over thirty wounds," Lian reminded her, and pressed a piece of cloth to a cut on a nearby shoulder._

"_They're scratches!"_

"_To you, they're scratches even when there's bone showing, you stubborn goat." Dawn Star's hand grasped Zi's chin, and firmly held her still as she set to work on her forehead. "Hold your hooves and pack those horns away – you can go back to traipsing up mountains tomorrow."_

"_Baa-a-a," Zi bleated, but settled back and relaxed._

"_Ah, there we are," Dawn Star laughed softly as she cleaned another cut. "Now your true nature is coming out."_

"_So put me out to pasture, shepherd."_

_Lian kept silent as she worked on the wounds within her own reach, and merely listened to the banter that flowed between the two women. It was easy and familiar, and where her own hands were hesitant and even trembling somewhat, Dawn Star's touched and healed broken, soft skin with an ease that spoke of the years of history that she and Zi shared. There was warmth in both sets of dark eyes when they looked at each other, soft smiles and low laughs that exchanged and riposted as they talked and chattered and teased._

_Gods, how could she ever compete with that?_

_The answer, of course, was that she couldn't. She shouldn't. So she bit her tongue whenever something wanted to pass it, and kept her gaze focused on her task; away from deep eyes, gentle fingers and alluring smiles._

"I thought that you and she..." She struggled for the words; still reeling internally now that yet another certainty about Jen Zi had been summarily destroyed. "She always doted on you; watched out for you above and beyond what she did for others. I was sure that-"

"She _does_ love me," Dawn Star offered with a slight smile. "And I love her dearly in return, but it isn't a romantic love. It never was."

"Gods and ancestors." Lian groaned and sank her forehead into the palm of her hand. "I could have _sworn_."

A hand settled on her shoulder again, and she felt the light squeeze at the same time that a soft chuckle reached her ears. "You do have sharp eyes, cousin," Dawn Star allowed. "That much has been obvious for a while. However, you also seem to turn a blind eye to some things. Sky? He's a good man, as you say, and I'm sure that he would agree in heartbeat if Zi wanted him, but she doesn't."

"She told you this?" she wondered quietly.

"Not at first," was the admission. "When we'd first met you near the Great Dam, most of what she said for the next week touched on you somehow, which made me wonder."

_That early?_ Lian felt a warm rush of both surprise and pleasure that she hadn't been the only one to leave that meeting as a changed woman.

"The troubles there kept her distracted for a while," Dawn Star continued. "But after you showed up in the city? Gods, you should have heard her." She rested her chin on her folded hands, and let an amused smile shape her lips. "Zi was _extremely_ frustrated by you, but it didn't blend with anger or annoyance like it usually does with her; I got more of a sense that she wanted to know you, and that's when I first thought that she was starting to feel more for you than she probably realized."

"Then?"

Dawn Star looked at her. "Then it grew," she explained. "I assume you didn't see it because you were too busy averting your own eyes, but she was always looking at you when she could; as if her gaze would never tire of you. She looked at you when she made decisions; fleeting, but there, as if checking for your agreement. She looked at you after turning down Sky; wistful and hoping. Even before the two of you parted from us to infiltrate the palace, she looked at you; wanting and uncertain."

"I wanted to talk to her before we went in there," Lian recalled, and watched Hou backhand Whirlwind in the stomach while Wildflower giggled. "We talked before we went into the Lotus Assassin fortress, but not about that."

_In fact, you told her she was a 'good friend', didn't you? How very courageous of you, Princess._

"I know." Dawn Star nodded. "She told me about it, and then said that she'd decided to push no further, since you didn't seem to want her in that way."

Lian rarely cursed. It was hardly appropriate for the imperial court, and as Silk Fox she seldom sought to attract attention. Now, however, she let loose a low, guttural string of words that she'd picked up at the harbors in Phoenix Gate; words that captured how she felt in a very apt – if crude – manner.

"Well..." Dawn Star coughed. "What does the last one mean?"

"Something you should never do with a dead fish," Lian sighed, and leaned back on her hands. "Gods, if only I'd been more brave, we could've..." She trailed off, swallowing thickly, and turned her eyes to the cloudy heavens. "You're right, cousin. I'm the biggest fool of all."

"It's not too late," the younger woman told her; voice firm and absolutely convinced. "She's here."

"You believe that?"

"With everything I am," Dawn Star promised. "We'll find her."

The sound of running feet reached her ears, and Lian looked up to see Sky approaching from the path they'd determined led down the mountain. His body was relaxed, but there was a hard set to his features that sent an icy tendril shooting down her spine, and she stood as if on autopilot and caught his eye as he came closer.

"Follow," he said as he jogged past them. "I have news, but they're not good."

xXxXx

"I could blast them - blast them all into tiny pieces! But I have no-"

"I say we just start hacking and stop yakking. So there's a lot, wh-"

"Why would Li even _send_ the arm-"

"There must still be a threat, but how? Only a Spirit Monk can hope to def-"

"I daresay I'd rather face my dear wife than th-"

"Look!"

Wildflower's cry silenced them all, and Lian spun on her heel, expecting an advance guard. Golems. Sun Li himself. Death's Hand.

But not this; never this. And sheer, paralyzing shock and disbelief was the only thing that kept her from falling to her knees.

"You're here!" Dawn Star was the first to find her tongue and her feet, and she moved like a sharp wind across the open space to enfold the newcomer in a tight embrace that resulted in a low, warm chuckle. "Alive! We... we thought you were dead, and then I had visions of the strangest things!"

"Dawn Star guided us to this place," Lian managed to say, though she wondered how she could work the words around the thickness in her throat. "But I expected a ghost; not flesh and blood."

She watched as Zi – _alive and well_ – extracted herself from Dawn Star's arms with a smile and a kiss to her cheek, all the while struggling to find her balance in a world that had suddenly upended itself on her all over again. Then Zi was moving; all fluid grace and shifting shadows as she approached, and when hands – warm, living hands – clasped her own, Lian realized that she was shaking.

"I came back for you, Princess."

Few words; simple and yet as unnervingly powerful as the woman who spoke them. Warm and tender like the deep eyes that met her own, and she could feel something inside her that desperately wanted to unlock; to spill into the world for all to see like a dam breaking open. It robbed her of breath; of speech.

"You... I... you couldn't have." She only vaguely registered that someone else was speaking – Hou, maybe? - struggling as she was to keep her tempestuous emotions under control. But the hands she held were her anchor, and kept her centered even as her eyes stung with disbelieving tears that she refused to let flow.

Now was not the time.

"...are not returned from the beyond in their own form," she heard Chai Ka say as her world slowly expanded once more.

"It weakened her greatly," Zi said, and Lian had to fight back tears again at the simple sound of her voice. "I _must_ try to set things right."

More words were exchanged, but Lian was only barely hearing them. She watched the play of light and shadow across Zi's face; the way the fading sun caught the faint hairs on her skin and made them glitter, the way her lips moved when she spoke, and the narrowing of her eyes; deep, chestnut brown that hardened into an amber sharpness as their focus shifted to Hou. The hands she held moved to release, and she clasped them tighter on instinct until she saw a slight, almost invisible smile quirk those lips, and felt fingers twine with her own.

"Assaulting the spirit realm has alerted Sun Li," Chai Ka explained through Wildflower.

"Your former master - my uncle – has taken the Jade Empire as his own," Lian picked up; willing herself to concentrate. "Emperor Sun Li has set the whole of his forces against us, and we are trapped here in Dirge."'

Zi, she considered, almost looked impressed. "Why would he set the whole army against us?"

"After you defeated my... my father..." She paused to clear her throat as her voice threatened to crack. "... and Li struck you down, he claimed both your amulet and the heart of the Water Dragon, and announced that his rule had begun." A flash of memory hit her; of Zi's unmoving body on the cold throne room floor. The sight was blurred by tears and seen from over her shoulder as Sky pushed her and the others out of the room. "The Lotus Assassins were his almost immediately. Your amulet must have allowed him to quickly do what it took my father years to accomplish."

"The Water Dragon told me it was a powerful focusing tool," Zi returned; voice strong enough for all to hear while her thumbs stroked soothing circles on the back of Lian's hands.

"We had no choice but to flee," she told her. _Without you; without even your body,_ her mind added. "In the days after, the new Emperor didn't seem overly concerned with capturing us, and we didn't know where to go."

Dawn Star was right there, she belatedly realized as she saw a hand settle on Zi's arm. "He didn't consider us a threat," she said. "We had no way of fighting him. Just as with Sun Hai, only a Spirit Monk can face him with hope of success."

Zi nodded, and her eyes closed briefly. "And I'm the last one," she softly confirmed. "Maybe I can fix that after all this is over."

There was a quiet confidence in her voice that made Lian smile. True, Sun Li had killed her before, but Zi had been expecting her master; expecting a friend. Now, she was aware of an enemy, and that could very well make all the difference.

"That's why we came here," she said. "Dawn Star's vision seemed impossible, but any hope was better than none."

"Unfortunately," Sky spoke up, "Emperor Sun Li sensed your stirrings in the spirit realm as well, and now we're trapped."

Zi's brow furrowed. "There's no way of avoiding them?" she questioned. "Sneaking? Flight?"

Sky shook his head somberly. "Only one path is passable by foot," he explained. "And that's the route they're coming up. We can't sneak past such a horde."

"My Marvelous Dragonfly will not survive the passage, either," Kang interjected; voice a stop somewhere between annoyance and regret. "The winds force a certain path, and the Army's flyers are guarding it well, but that's our luck as well as our sorrow. Their inferior flyers can barely stay aloft in such currents, so they won't overrun us from the air; at least not in numbers."

"So be it." Zi expelled a slow breath and nodded her head. "Then we will raise our defense here, and come what may."

"We have a little time," Lian noted. "Sky says they're still at the base of the mountain; I'd say the main force won't be here until tomorrow."

Another round of chatter was set off by that, though this time is was chatter of purpose; of plans. Much more palatable than the panic that had taken them over just scant moments earlier, Lian decided.

"I..." She released Zi's hands and let her own drop as she saw Kang and Whirlwind wander off with Sky in tow, while Hou, Dawn Star and Wildflower were waiting nearby. "If I could have a word with you when the others have gone?" she requested, lowering her head and keeping her voice soft enough that only Zi would hear her. "I need to speak with you."

A touch to her face then; fingers lifting her chin until their eyes met again, and she felt the quiver in the digits as they stroked her cheek; saw the tremulous quirk at the corner of Zi's mouth. "And I with you, though right now, I think Kang and Whirlwind would benefit from your knowledge," Zi said. "I'll be at the temple with the others. Meet me here at sunset?"

It was odd, Lian reflected as she watched Zi walk away, how she reacted around her. For years, she'd been unflappable even in the worst of times; had faced down enemies twice her size and numbering in the dozens without so much as flinching. But set her in front of Jen Zi – in front of a simple peasant – and she was suddenly uncertain, even downright shy; tripping over her words and thoughts, wanting and fearing at the same time.

_You taunt with feelings I cannot have and dare not want! _she'd told her what felt like ages ago; when all they wanted to accomplish was to rescue Master Li and inform Emperor Sun Hai of Death's Hand's corruption. When things were simple; when the flirting had started to become too common of an occurrence, and Lian had finally rejected it because she could not want a woman, and certainly not one of peasant stock.

But Sun Hai was dead, and had been for many years; probably as far back as she even had memories of him; before the few times where she'd sought his teachings and he had granted them.

_You are my heir, Lian. You are the Empire's future, and must ensure that you provide a future beyond yourself._

An heir; another child from her line. But it was a lesson from a man who'd corrupted himself beyond what she'd ever been able to fear, and given how things had developed – how even gods were held captive and the door to the afterlife closed – how much was tradition truly worth? To solve this, an Emperor would have to be defeated, killed, and by a young woman who carried not an ounce of noble blood in her veins, nor wore the colors of an opposing army.

Up was down, and left was right. The world had become a vortex of swirling chaos, and while knowing that nothing was as it had always been was terrifying, it also granted the ability to not only break the rules, but re-write them entirely. A clean slate; a future to shape as you wanted.

All they'd have to do was kill the man who commanded the mighty Jade Empire, and held the powerful Water Dragon as his slave.

Simple enough, right?

Lian sighed, and started off towards where Kang, Whirlwind and Sky had been swallowed up by the snow.

xXxXx

Night was falling; signaled by the darkening of the sky, the slowing of the howling winds and the appearance of early stars. A fire had been lit in the circle of large, heavy tents that her friends had erected, and Hou was busy ladling out bowls of a simple stew he'd concocted from the supplies housed in the Dragonfly. Most of them were dotted around the fire; sitting on rocks or directly on the ground. Wildflower and Sky were chatting amiably while Kang and Whirlwind argued; all of them seeming to take care to not mention the following day. Lian seemed content to keep to herself for the moment, and Zi wondered if the princess wasn't feeling a little preoccupied, much like she herself was.

"Here."

Zi blinked, and looked up to see Dawn Star in front of her; two bowls of steaming stew in her hands and a knowing, amused look in her dark eyes.

She sighed, and took one of the bowls with a nod while her friend seated herself beside her. "You don't have to serve me," she reminded her. "I'm perfectly capable of getting my own meal."

"When someone returns from the dead, I'd say they deserve a little pampering," Dawn Star noted amiably. "Besides, if I'd waited for you to stop staring at her, the stew would've gone cold, and then frozen solid."

_Pig farts_. Zi sent her friend a look, and busied herself with a spoonful of the warm broth. "The one time I have more than a passing interest in someone, you jump right on it."

"The privilege of the best friend." Dawn Star bumped her with one shoulder, and smiled. "I've never known you to give your heart away, and though it does my own good to see it, I retain the right to tease you."

There was a 'but' coming. Zi could practically feel it hovering.

"But I hope you know what you're getting into," her friend continued while Zi mentally awarded herself a point. "If... _when_ we do this, she will be the Empress. Palace life is very far from what we're used to."

There was truth in that, and while Zi was not enough of a fool to ignore it, she was also not enough of a coward to turn her back on this over a matter of logistics.

"You say that I've given my heart away," she repeated, and tapped her spoon against the side of the bowl as she watched Dawn Star watch her. "I say that I never had the chance to."

Dawn Star seemed to consider that, and then nodded. "Silk Fox is a skilled thief," she allowed.

"I don't think she meant to steal this."

"No, I doubt that she did," her friend mused, and turned her gaze to the firelight. "There is a... a link between you. I feel it now, and I've felt it in a fainter way for a long time; since we grew up in Two Rivers." Her lips quirked, and she rested her chin on her hand. "Something has been pulling you to the Imperial City since we were children; I've long been able to tell that much. I just never knew what it was."

Zi digested that as she studied her meal; lumps of tender meat – probably brought salted from the city – and bits of vegetable floating in thick, herb-scented broth. Dawn Star's abilities, she knew, went above and beyond merely seeing ghosts; extending to see and feel the world's hidden currents in a way that mortal eyes normally could not.

"You were always touched by the gods," she remarked, and raised her head to meet her friend's eyes. "Are you saying that I am, too?"

Dawn Star stared at her. "Wha- _Now_ you're figuring this out?!" she demanded, and followed her words with a sharp burst of laughter. "Zi, the Water Dragon _talks to you!_ That hardly happens to everyone!"

"That's not wh-" She growled, and flicked her still-chortling friend in the forehead. "Shut up! You know what I mean."

"I do," the younger woman admitted with a chuckle. "I just wanted to see that look on your face."

Zi groaned, and hid her face in one hand. "Why am I even friends with you?"

"Because you love me, and because it was supposed to be that way," was the dutiful reply. "You and I are linked, too."

"Urgh." Zi pulled a face. "One cousin as a love interest, and the other as a sadistic best friend," she teased. "I'm becoming part of a family of troublemakers, aren't I?"

"At least you'll fit right in," Dawn Star returned readily. "I wasn't the one to tie bows on the goats, or let wild chickens into the classroom."

"That was years ago!"

"The more things change, the more they stay the same."

"You are an absolute pain sometimes."

"I learned from the best."

Zi glowered at her in return for nothing more than a knowing smile, and finally relented with a shake of her head. "Alright, maybe you did," she allowed. "It took weeks to get the feathers out of the classroom."

"Remember when Gao slipped on a broken egg and almost landed on one of them?"

She did, and the memory made her laugh. "I've never seen a chicken that mad; it chased him around the practice pen, what? Six times?"

"Seven," Dawn Star corrected with a grin. "I think that's what truly turned him against you, but it was pretty amusing at the time."

"I was chasing the bird!" she protested. "It was just flapping up to peck him in the butt all the time; it took a while to get hold of it."

"Buck-baaawk," Dawn Star clucked in a reasonable facsimile of the fowl in question, and then sobered. "I think that's my main concern, actually. You know I wouldn't stand in the way of your happiness." A hand touched the skin on Zi's forearm, and the look in her eyes was warm and affectionate. "Never, and certainly not when your match was chosen for you by powers beyond my understanding. But I worry because it's my right to, and because you haven't had to deal with that kind of arrogance over long periods since Gao."

"And look how that turned out, is that what you mean?" Zi consciously did not allow herself to argue against Lian's arrogance; it was there, and well-known among their little group. There was no good to be gained in ignoring it; especially not if she was given the chance to become a permanent part of her life. "I was never in love with Gao."

"I know," her friend agreed lowly. "And her arrogance is different; she's earned it somehow, and not just taken it the way Gao did. She even seems to lose it entirely where you're concerned, but you are one of very few exceptions to that rule, and I know how you dislike others being treated that way. Are you sure that you can watch her be the way she is for an entire lifetime?"

Zi thought about that, and then cocked her head. "Can you be sure that she will even continue to be that way, after everything that's happened? In the face of everything that _will_ happen?" she questioned, and let one eyebrow arch. "Events like these tend to have a lasting effect on people."

Dawn Star studied her for a long moment, and then nodded once. "I suppose that I can't. I just-"

"I know." She halted the explanation with a touch to her friend's shoulder, and briefly bumped heir foreheads together. "Thank you for looking out for me."

"Merely returning the favor, my friend," Dawn Star promised, and then let her lips quirk into a crooked smile. "I do wonder what the two of you will do about producing an heir, though. You're a talented woman, but I'm not sure that even you can be quite _that_ talented."

Zi coughed as she felt her face heat up abruptly, then scowled. "I can still hoist you over my shoulder and dump you into the sea, you know."

"Bit of a walk, from here."

"Luckily for you."

They settled into a comfortable silence then, and while Dawn Star's attention shifted to the meal in her lap, Zi felt her own wander - as it had for longer than she could say – to the only one who had ever managed to become more important to her than the woman sitting beside her. Lian had moved well beyond the flickering circle of firelight, and was only faintly lit by the pale beams of fading sunlight as she sat on a large trunk by one of the tents; one knee on top of the other, arms folded over her stomach, head back against the side of the tent and her gaze turned to the heavens. Her lips, Zi noted, were twitching slightly. Tightening, relaxing and tightening again as her fingers curled in black the fabric that covered her body, and her eyelashes fluttered over and over as she stared into the sky.

_She's nervous_, she realized, and felt her hand tighten around the spoon in her grasp as she noticed the elevated beat of her own heart. _We both are_.

Zi supposed that it shouldn't surprise her. Whatever was about to happen – and she hoped that it would be something good – had been building for a long time. These feelings were a blessing, and she knew that, even if they'd driven her to distraction countless times, and the earlier sense that Lian did not want her had hurt more than she'd ever thought possible. More than even Sun Li's betrayal had.

Differences in station, in upbringing, lives and experiences not withstanding, Sun Lian had started on the path to become her entire world from the moment she'd met her. She'd been a challenge in ways beyond what Zi had ever experienced; arguing her own opinions with adamant insistence rather than simply following as most of her friends did, and questioning her at every step she took. Lian was a handful and a force to be reckoned with, of that there was no doubt; such a contrast when viewed against Zi herself that one might as well be setting the sun beside the moon, and she knew that the time she'd spent in the princess's company had changed them both in many small, significant ways.

Good ways, she decided as Lian sensed her gaze and their eyes met through the deepening gloom. She was a little less naive and a little more worldly, while Lian was a little less prejudiced and a little more patient. The gods only knew what they could lift each other to be in the years to come.

And those years _would_ come. They had to.

_Gods, she's beautiful_, she thought to herself for the umpteenth time, and studied the young woman unhurriedly. Whether she was in the dark garb of Silk Fox or the bright, imperial silk of the Heavenly Lily, Lian never failed to capture her attention. Like the sun coming out from behind the clouds, or the moon rising over a snowy mountaintop, she caught Zi's eyes and heart and held both without any apparent effort. She moved with a subtle fluidity that had almost sent Zi to tripping over her own feet several times because her gaze refused to stray from gently swaying hips, a generous chest that rose and fell slowly with even breaths, laughing, pale brown eyes or fingers and hands that beckoned or withheld with equal skill. Without the veil that shielded half of her face when disguised as Silk Fox, she'd quickly found that her lips, as well, were a point of severe distraction.

A neat, dark eyebrow arched in question from across the campsite, and Zi felt herself blush once more when the corner of Lian's mouth lifted knowingly. Then the princess was rising – tiny, satisfied smile still firmly in place – and while it was certainly subtle, she just could not tear her eyes away when she saw her walk like _that_.

Definitely distracting, she considered fuzzily as Lian passed by; continuing towards the other end of camp and up the steps to the platform that faced the valley below and the surrounding mountains. In fact, when Dawn Star set a hand against her back and pushed, she fell to her knees on the stone.

"Ah!" Dawn Star raised a warning hand when Zi turned to her with a scolding word on the tip of her tongue. "When I'm between the two of you, I feel every bit of the energy passing from you to her and back. So go after her, and let me calm down."

"Right." Zi got to her feet with a mildly embarrassed grin. "Sorry."

It was a strange back and forth between her and Lian, she thought as she walked towards the slender body she could see silhouetted against the dying sun. Confidence that let them take a few steps forward, followed by fear that would make them take a step back. Frustrating in the extreme, but at the same time the most delicious anticipation she'd ever felt, and one that was now making her hands tingle.

All the while, she found the presence of mind to appreciate the irony flavoring the situation, too. A journey lasting months upon months; facing ghosts, demons, cannibals, gods, golems and Lotus Assassins by the score. Enemies that struck with and preyed on fear; ones that many others would have run from at the mere thought of their presence.

And yet, not once had she felt as unsettled as she did right now.

xXxXx

Mere moments ago, she'd been willing herself not to laugh. She'd seen Dawn Star's rolled eyes and the steady rise of one hand as she walked by them, and not long after, heard the muted thump of a body hitting the ground. Receiving and identifying the look that Zi had given her – that clear, open view of thinly veiled desire – had managed to shake her nerves away and bring out something else; a side of her that she'd never personally encountered before. Oh, she'd charmed men often to get the information she wanted, but when any of them had sent her burning glances and wanted more than her charm, she'd felt nothing other than irritation.

With Zi, everything seemed to be new and different. She had enjoyed being in the light of that heated regard; so much so that she'd wanted to feel more of it, and had very deliberately added a little extra to the way she walked.

Zi's reaction had been far from disappointing; for a few heartbeats, she'd been halfway convinced that the cloth covering her hips might catch on fire.

Now, however, the moment had passed, and Lian was back to being nervous. Dawn Star had said that Zi loved her, and the fact that the woman had claimed to have come back _for her_ certainly seemed to support that statement. Still, doubt was lingering around her like a buzzing fly that refused to leave her be. The pain from having watched Zi die was there too, and the logical part of her was squawking loudly.

No one came back from the dead. It was far more likely that she'd fallen asleep aboard the Dragonfly, and was now dreaming.

"Found you," came a low voice, and she turned her head to see the setting sun cast Zi's smiling face in half-shadow.

Her own lips twitched in return, and she folded her hands on the wood below them. "Were you looking?"

"For you?" Dark hair floated briefly in a short breeze as Zi nodded. "I think I always was."

Simple words yet again, but powerful, and only made more so by the fact that Zi actually seemed to mean what she said. Lian swallowed around a wry chuckle, and sighed. "I think that perhaps I was, too," she admitted. "Though what you do to my heart with mere words should rightly be against the law."

The fence creaked as her companion shifted; leaning on it as she faced her. "If all goes well, that'll be your area soon enough," she remarked; one hand reaching out to cover Lian's. "I hope you won't pass a law against it, though. I rather like that I can have that effect on you."

_Ancestors, please hear me. If this is indeed a dream, then let me sleep forever._

"You're the only one that ever has." She moved to catch Zi's hand in her own, and explored the soft skin with idle fingers. The long digits curled beneath her own when she stroked the backs of them, and when her touch trailed over the center of the faintly calloused palm, she felt Zi twitch and caught the soft sound she made; hastily muffled though it was. "Ticklish?"

Much to her amusement, her companion looked absolutely horrified.

"Relax," she chuckled. "I won't take advantage of that." A pause, and once the other woman relaxed: "Not yet, at least."

Zi sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes. "I'm surrounded by incorrigible personalities."

"Birds of a feather."

"Oh, heavens, not you, too."

She chuckled again at that, and watched as tanned fingers twined with her own, slightly paler ones. "I was wondering when we'd find time to be alone," she noted softly. "Everyone has been hovering about you since... you got back."

"The circumstances were... rather extraordinary," was the apologetic retort.

"Clearly, you have a gift for understatement." She watched Zi's lips bend in a sheepish half-grin, and squeezed her hand. "I concede that I've been afraid to talk to you," she then admitted; voice only barely a whisper. "I worried that you might have changed; that you might have forgotten me." Slowly, she raised a hand, and cursed the tremble in her fingers when she trailed them over a soft, warm cheek. "Tell me... do you still feel the same for your Heavenly Lily?"

The skin under her fingers moved when Zi's smile widened, and a hand was soon covering her own to guide her palm to rest more firmly – confidently – against the cheek she'd cupped. "That depends," her companion returned in a gently teasing tone. "Is she willing to take what makes her happy?"

Lian laughed; shaky and half-choked though it was. "I haven't slept since you fell," she offered hoarsely, and watched the dark eyes soften while a thumb wiped away a renegade tear. "For all the influence my position is supposed to carry, I was helpless as a lamb. But now... to have you back here? With me?" Her hand settled in the center of Zi's chest, and her voice broke when she felt the steady heartbeat. "It's almost too much to bear."

Arms were encircling her now, and she moved willingly into an embrace that smelled of silk and sage and safety as the remaining tears finally released.

"It frightens me how much you make me feel," she choked into the soft fabric, and felt familiar fingers stroke her back slowly while a head came to rest against her own. "I don't think I can live without you."

Zi swallowed harshly; an act that she more felt than heard as the arms brought her closer still. "Then I will never leave again."

"I wish..." She exhaled shakily and pulled back just enough to cup her face, and felt warm breath against her own mouth when their foreheads touched and their eyes met. "Gods, I wish that your saying so would make it true," she whispered. "But so much is uncertain, and I am truly frightened about tomorrow, even though I know that I'm safe with you."

"You always will be." Zi's voice almost felt as though it was inside her, and she was sure that she could drown in those deep, open eyes that regarded her so tenderly. "And I know of one certainty, Lian: I have loved you since the moment I met you."

This smile, she idly reflected, was surely going to split her face in half. "Whatever comes, thank you for teaching me how to care for people, Spirit Monk. I've never been closer to anyone."

She'd wanted to say more; to clearly express that she loved her and remove whatever small trace of doubt might linger. That was impossible for the moment, though, since full lips had claimed her own the instant she'd stopped speaking. Lips that now moved with almost excruciating care; slow and sensuous, coaxing, alluring, and Lian was sure that her heart was going to burst from her chest. Never before had anyone made her feel like this; like liquid fire was spreading through her veins from every point where their bodies touched, like she would never be able to get close enough in even ten lifetimes.

Never before, and when fingertips pressed into the small of her back and the kiss deepened, Lian decided that if she had any say in the matter, no other ever would.

"Stay with me tonight," she pleaded on an uneven breath, and reveled in the sharp, ragged movements of the ribs under her hands.

"Gods..." Zi's face was flushed; her eyes hazy and only barely focusing on her. "If I agree, will this continue?"

"I certainly hope so," Lean breathed against her lips. "Or I think I might lose my mind."

She kissed her again because she could, and let the low groan that she extracted with her teeth and tongue wash away scoldings from her younger years about what kissing could lead to, and how a lady of nobility had to remain unspoiled for marriage. She'd spent enough unsupervised time in the palace libraries to go through texts that went well away from what her tutors had been trying to focus her attention on, and because of that knew _exactly_ where she wanted this to lead. So what if it meant that she'd no longer be unspoiled? If anyone was of the mind that they could ever convince her to marry anyone else after this... Well, then Lian would be quite content to set them straight; however loudly it was necessary.

Feeling like this -_ wanting_ like this, with the breath catching in her throat as hips bucked into her own – was a first, and probably an only. How could she let that go?

The brief walk back to the tents was more of a four-legged stumble than anything else, since neither of them seemed willing to release each other for even such a short period of time. Lian was too preoccupied to bother with counting the amount of things they bumped into, but she was sure that the others – who had thankfully all separated into the remaining tents – could hear them, and probably had few doubts as to what was going on.

"Keep it down out there!" came Whirlwind's gruff voice as if on cue. "Some of us have a hangover to wake up to!"

Lian had no opportunity to respond to that, but did feel the warm wash of a low laugh against her lips that was Zi's reaction. It was a brief wave of gentle amusement in a sea of burning desire, and it made her smile even as a hand fisted in the fabric that covered her chest; tugging her past a hanging piece of thick cloth and into complete darkness.

Here, the sound of the wind was muted; so much so that she could hear every ragged breath from either of them as their mouths met again. There was soft silk under her hands; warm from the skin beneath it, and fingers that trailed over her face, along her jaw and into her hair where they tugged at its bindings and loosened them until every strand was free to be explored.

"Mm- wait," she murmured into the kiss; pulling away only to be lured right back in when a searching tongue stole the breath from her lungs and almost made her knees unlock.

"Wait for what?" Zi's voice was a low, husky growl that sent shivers down her spine, and she had to steady herself by gripping the other woman's shoulders when it vibrated against the shell of her ear.

"You are going to be my undoing," Lian complained goodnaturedly, and managed to give the back of her companion's head a scolding tap in spite of the total darkness.

A soft chuckle was heard, and she felt a thumb trace her lips before Zi kissed her again, though only briefly this time. "Possibly," was the peaceful agreement. "But that doesn't answer my question,"

"Let me light some candles," she requested. "Much as I'm enjoying having to feel my way-" She stroked the firm abdomen in front of her, and felt the muscles twitch in reaction. "-I want to see you."

"Alright." A single finger traced the curve of her breast just long enough to make her shiver, and then disappeared when she felt the heat of Zi's body retreat. "I hope you know where everything is, though."

Lian had to take a second to get her heart-rate back under control; privately amazed at what this woman could do to her without any apparent effort. "Not really," she then managed to admit without sounding too breathless.

A familiar chuckle sounded from somewhere to her left. "Here."

There was the sound of fire whooshing to life, and she thought that maybe her companion had found a candle and match until the darkness receded enough. Then she just stared at the weaving, crackling flames that engulfed Zi's right arm from elbow to fingertip; bronzing her already tanned skin and lending an amber glow to her eyes, while the shifting shadows highlighted the fine contours of her face.

"I don't know why I continue to be surprised at the things you can do," she noted wryly. "Did you gain this while you were..."

Her inability to finish the sentence earned her an apologetic look. "No." Zi shook her head and turned her arm in various ways; studying the flames herself. "This was a gift from the Water Dragon before any of this even started," she explained. "Though I don't use it much. On ghosts and demons it has little effect, and on humans..." Her face contorted in a grimace. "Do you know what burning flesh smells like?"

"No."

"Good." Full lips twitched into a faint smile. "I hope you never find out."

Something in her expression made Lian's heart feel as if it was rending in half, and she closed her eyes in realization. _Two Rivers. Of course._ She had – if only for a moment - watched the village burn with her own eyes, but never gotten close enough to see anything but the buildings ablaze. To Zi, however, the small town had been her home; her sanctuary. If anyone would have run into the flaming, crumbling ruins head-on, it would have been her. The gods only knew what terrors from that day and the many following still haunted her, and yet she smiled, she laughed, and she loved; unwilling to let loss defeat her.

The only thing that made her this woman's superior, Lian reflected, was the fact that she by some freak accident of birth and blood had been placed into a higher social circle. In every other area, Zi was leagues ahead of her, and it was humbling.

"Does it hurt?" she asked when she'd found a box of matches, and watched as Zi let one lit fingertip touch the wick of a candle.

"Me, you mean?" The other woman waited until she'd nodded, and then shook her own head. "No, not really. I mean... I can feel that it's not exactly natural." The corner of her mouth quirked upwards. "But it's not painful. Just different."

Lian lit a candle of her own by way of more traditional means. "Do you think it would hurt me?" she wondered.

Zi's gaze turned inwards for a long moment "I... don't know," she admitted, and pressed her lips together briefly. "In my experience it always hurts others, but that was also always my aim."

As she listened, Lian lit most of the remaining candles she could find and distributed them evenly near the edges of the circular tent; most directly on the stone floor, and a few on top of trunks.

"Will you let me see if it does?" she then asked.

The surprise at her question was clear in Zi's eyes; that and conflict, though she didn't know which one made the flames surrounding her arm flare.

"I don't want to hurt you," the other woman told her.

"You won't." Lian set down the matches she held and approached; watching the minute trembles in Zi's body as she apparently debated with herself. "If this does, it will be entirely my doing."

"Lian..." Zi was retreating; tiny, uncertain steps pulling her back and a pleading look in her dark eyes. "Don't."

She followed, but kept a respectful distance from the hand that was lit and instead moved closer to her companion's left side. It was obvious that Zi was extremely uneasy; body steadily moving and the fire-lit arm always kept as far away from Lian herself as possible. Her face, too, betrayed her; her eyes were wide and had the faintest trace of tears around their edges, and a fine sheen of sweat had started to coat her forehead.

"You fear this power," she realized, and for that reason halted her approach. "Why?"

"I fear what it may do to you," was the hoarse correction. "Anyone on the receiving end of Dire Flame was unable to extinguish themselves, and burned to death." Zi's jaw was trembling, and she determinedly took a step further away. "I've seen men shed their burning clothes, roll in mud or even jump in rivers; nothing stopped it." Her eyes hardened. "Cuts will heal and bruises fade, but I _will not_ risk your safety with this. I don't know why it was even offered to me; it's far too dangerous, far too cruel."

"Then why aren't you simply putting it out?"

"Because I can't!" Zi's voice was a sharp bark, and both that and the sudden, vicious flaring of the fire she held shocked her. "Lighting and extinguishing the power of Dire Flame requires calm; something I'm not exactly feeling right now!"

"Alright." Lian carefully kept her voice soft, and held up her hands. The anger, she knew, was born of the fear the other woman felt of hurting her, and the force of the flame Zi could create was clearly tied heavily to her emotions. "I'll stay here for now, I promise."

Heaving breaths evened slightly, though the other woman kept a watchful eye trained on her all the same. If she hadn't recognized the suspicion to come from worry, Lian would probably have been offended. Still, she did know, and while part of her dearly wished to free her companion from this obviously crippling fear, right now her priority was to do whatever she could to help her calm down.

"Zi?" She waited for the flickering gaze to meet her own. "Look at me, my love." Her phrasing was apparently a good choice, since she could see the flame lessen. "I'm safe, I swear to you. Hale and healthy and so very concerned for you right now, darling. Just breathe, please. Deep, slow breaths, and listen to the sound of my voice, alright?"

"It feels strange," Zi told her unsteadily.

"What does?"

"Breathing." The smile that accompanied the word was weak, but the fire was easing. "The dead can hear your thoughts, you know, in the place before the Wheel. That is, if we can focus. Mostly it's horrible images of bad things happening to the ones you love; your greatest fears before your eyes, over and over." Her gaze cut to the flame encasing her arm, and she swallowed. "I watched you die from this so many times."

"I can only imagine." She found a small smile somewhere. "You were there for days."

"Days," Zi repeated slowly, and met her eyes again. "Can you imagine the agony of twenty _years_ there? Unable to escape?" Her hands clenched, and a tear slipped from her eye. "All those souls, trapped."

Lian wanted to cry. Even now, with her entire body shaking from the shattering force of her own fears, Zi still grieved for the pain suffered by people she never knew. It was heartbreaking to watch, yet so very typical, and if she lived to be a thousand years old, Lian would never deserve her.

"You can fix that," she promised, and took care to let the hand she extended be the only move she made. "You can save them, and I swear I'll be with you every step of the way."

"Lian, I _know_ that." Zi's voice was warm, though still a touch tremulous even as she laughed and wiped at her own eyes. "But I guess I needed to hear it anyway." The flame died out, and their fingers twined. "Thank you. I'm sorry I frightened you."

"You didn't," she assured with a shake of her head, and met the dark eyes evenly. "I was scared _for_ you, yes, but never _of_ you. I don't think I can be."

"I'm glad to hear that." The hand in her own was still trembling, but there was strength in the crooked smile that now appeared. "Since I seem to attract the more dangerous situations."

"You don't attract them, darling; you _chase_ them," Lian chuckled softly, and leaned in to kiss a damp cheek. "It's a frightening, wonderful thing to know someone like you. I'll probably always fear for your safety, but you are a shining example of all that is good and right in the world."

Zi, she realized, was blushing. Badly. "I only wanted to save my master."

"Want_ed_, yes." She stroked a burning cheek. "And now you're risking yourself to save thousands of people; living and dead." Another kiss, this one to slightly parted lips. "The courage you hold inside you is without match. Most others would have fled."

"It's the right thing to do." Her companion's voice was low. "But thank you, and I'm sorry. I wasn't planning on... well, on going into all that. Not tonight."

"Zi." She cupped her face in both hands, and let their eyes meet in a fierce exchange of emotion. "_I love you;_ I want to know you completely. Whatever you want to tell me, _whenever_ you want to tell me, I'll listen. Always."

Her words earned her a smile so beatific that it made her heart ache; then there were fingers tangling in her hair and soft lips pulling her into a kiss that had her gasping for air when it ended.

"I seem to be saying this a lot tonight," was the soft murmur; so close that she could feel Zi's lips brush against her own with every one of them. "But thank you. Again."

_She's thanking me for loving her?_ The idea was patently ridiculous. Lian could no more stop loving this woman than she could lift up and carry a mountain from one side of the empire to the other. She wanted to argue that; to insist that thanks were unneeded, but at the same time, she could relate. After all, she was very grateful herself that Zi seemed to love her just as helplessly.

"You're welcome," she therefore responded; smiling as she kissed those lips again. "Let me light the rest of the candles."

She got no verbal reply; merely the sensation of hands releasing her, followed by the almost inaudible sounds of her companion moving away after Lian herself had turned around. Zi was remarkably light on her feet – even her breathing was near unnoticeable when its rhythm was normal – and she probably could have crafted a very lucrative career as an assassin, if she'd been so inclined.

If was all for the best that such an idea had never entertained her, though. She doubted that would have left them as anything else than even larger antagonists than when they'd met.

"I should probably tell you something else," came Zi's voice from where she'd positioned herself off to the side of the tent. "I'm not really sure what I'm doing here."

The words gave her pause, and Lian took the few seconds she spent extinguishing and discarding the last match to collect her thoughts. "How do you mean?" she then inquired, and folded her hands in front of her as she regarded her companion curiously. "Don't tell me you're having second thoughts?"

"No!" The reply was vehement, and Zi let her brow furrow in consternation. "Please don't discount what I feel for you so easily."

"I didn't mean your feelings, darling," she soothed, and felt her chest warm at the slight, irrepressible smile that the term of endearment brought forth on the other woman's face. "I was more concerned that you were unsure about this." She indicated the bedroll in the center of the space with a nod of her head. "It's quite a leap to go directly from the first kiss to the bed."

"Not that either," was the next denial, accompanied by a shake of the dark head. "I want you, I _really_ do, but..." Zi released a frustrated sigh, and rubbed two fingertips against her own forehead. "I've never done this before."

"Ah." Lian allowed herself a smile, and caught the chestnut eyes with her own. "I'm your first female lover."

"Well, yes." There was a soft cough, and this time Zi scratched the side of her own throat. "That, and you're kind of..." Her cheeks tinted with a red that had nothing to do with the candlelight, and Lian felt her thoughts grind to a halt as she began catching on. "Um... my first." Pause. "Ever."

_Ever?!_ Whatever small part of her mind that wasn't busy stuttering in shock, idly wondered if she looked as flabbergasted as she felt.

"I can see you didn't expect that," Zi noted wryly, and let a faint smile curl her lips. "It's probably a little too much then, right now. Given what's coming tomorrow, and all." She closed in and kissed Lian's cheek; lingering briefly. "I'll bunk with Dawn Star tonight; don't worry about it. We have plenty of time."

"Wait." She managed to catch the retreating woman by the wrist just before Zi left her reach, and was met with a questioning look when the dark head turned. "I'm sorry; you just surprised me."

"That much was fairly obvious," Zi returned with an amused look.

"Probably," Lian allowed as she knelt on one end of the bedroll, and with a light tug coaxed her companion to sit at the other. "I know I had an unfair view of peasants when we first met, but at least I never believed them to not have eyes in their heads."

A slender, dark eyebrow cocked. "I appreciate the compliment, but I'm sure you're a little biased."

"I'm _very_ biased," she corrected with a quirk of her lips, and enjoyed the amused little scoff the words earned her. "That doesn't make me a liar. You cannot mean to tell me that no one approached you?"

"Not really." Zi's head tilted pensively, and her focus flitted along the candle-lit interior of the tent as she thought. "Once I started on the path to becoming the senior student, the villagers held me too far above themselves for me to truly form connections with any of them. The others were students; too busy worrying about keeping up with me to think about getting me into bed."

That, at least, made sense. "And after?"

"A few," her companion admitted with a nod of her head. "But I had too much on my mind at first, and then..." She smiled. "Well, then I met you, and no one else could measure up."

Lian felt herself flush, and gave the hand in her own a squeeze. "I certainly hope that I'll live up to your expectations," she commented wryly.

"You will," Zi stated simply. "All I expect is you; I don't want the elegant Heavenly Lily or the dangerous Silk Fox," she promised as a finger came up to gently trace the side of her face. "Just Lian."

She eyed her for a long moment, and then smiled. "I'm starting to think your arena title would have been more fitting if you'd chosen the name Silver Tongue." Zi elected to reply to that by merely sticking out the tip of the appendage in question, and Lian laughed before she sobered somewhat. "I must ask, though, how much you do know."

"I'm not _clueless_," the young woman assured her a touch dryly. "I know how sex works; at least between a man and a woman. Between two women, however..." Her nose wrinkled faintly, which was followed by a twist of her lips. "I'd never really had reason to wonder about such things until you came along."

How did one explain, Lian wondered, when one had so little to draw on? All she knew of the ways women could bring pleasure to each other came from books she'd read – few, at that, and long ago, since she'd certainly never anticipated this – and more recently from her own imaginings, which were hardly credible source material. She had _some_ inkling of what her own body responded to, and knew where the more sensitive areas were, but had never truly explored. The idea of sharing such things with Zi had been painful more than anything else, when she'd first been frightened to reach out to her, and then grieved for the loss of her life.

She'd learned more about what raised her own level of arousal in the past few minutes than she had in her entire life, and while she did have a good number of ideas about what she wanted to do to _her_, most of them were thoughts that she doubted she could make herself express to her face.

Not just yet, at least.

"It's mostly hands and lips," she tried, and swallowed a sigh at the steady, questioning look. "You never, um..." Gods, how were they even _having_ this conversation? "... tried anything on yourself?"

"No, I..." Zi cleared her throat. "... never really got the chance. Training, school and work leave little time for more than sleeping at night, and recently, privacy's been hard to come by."

Lian bit her lip and nodded; feeling very much torn between honor and frustration that she would be the first – and hopefully only – to share with Zi the joys of physical love, but would in turn also have to place a hefty restraint on her own desires tonight. To guide – or at least attempt to - instead of claim, and show patience over passion would require immense amounts of self-control on her part; something with which she at least had several years of practice, though patience had never been one of her virtues. She had hardly planned on tackling Zi to the floor the second they'd entered, but she'd also never expected that _she_ would be the more experienced one. Zi wasn't a noble and wouldn't have had the same need to save herself for an eventual husband, so she had assumed that at some earlier point in her life, a lover would have appeared.

Clearly, that wasn't the case. This woman seemed dead set on shattering every opinion she ever formed about her.

"Well." Lian let her teeth worry at her lower lip some more as she studied the face a few feet away. "This is..." She trailed off without completing the sentence; unable to find a fitting finish as her thoughts chased themselves in cheerful little circles, and frowned, because this was definitely a case of the blind leading the blind. "Hm."

Sounds of amusement were the last she'd expected to hear, but there they were. She'd heard Zi laugh, chuckle, scoff and chortle; even snort or sputter when some unexpected source of amusement caught her particularly off-guard. Now, however, a woman who was surely over her own age of twenty-two seasons - one who had faced down countless enemies, who was the single remaining hope of an entire empire and had defeated death itself - was _giggling;_ complete with one hand clapped over her mouth and narrowed, bright eyes that glittered with mirth.

"Yes," Zi managed to get out from behind amusement and her own fingers. "It certainly is."

And Lian smiled; utterly charmed by the sight. Perhaps these moments should have been more awkward than they were, as sharing your body with another person for the first time was generally something that many people seemed to fret about. Yet they weren't, and presumably for a variety of reasons; the coming attack and the very real possibility of one or both of them losing their lives being the major ones, of course. In the face of such dangers, things like maidenly shyness tended to falter.

Instead, she felt little other than an intense affection that mixed with the smoldering desire; driving it higher, but also mellowing it to a steady stream that was in equal amounts lust (_I want her_)_,_ pride (_She wants me_) and joy _(This is real_)_,_ with the overshadowing component being love (_Always_).

Uncertainty didn't have a chance.

"We'll figure it out," she decided, and felt her entire body warm under the smiling, chestnut gaze as Zi regarded her. "For now, would you help me brush my hair?"

"Something tells me that'll be an exercise in futility," her companion remarked, but still smoothly unfurled her body and rose.

Lian felt her lips twitch in amusement. "Most likely," she agreed. "But I enjoy the feeling, and it's a handy excuse to have you closer."

"I didn't know you needed one."

"Shush."

Zi rolled her eyes as she returned with a small, circular brush in hand, and dropped to her knees behind her. "Whatever you say, Your Highness," she teased, and then squeaked when a hand reached back to tweak her waist.

"Incorrigible," Lian muttered.

"To keep up with you, I have to be."

"Keep up with _me?_" If the tines of the brush hadn't been sending pleasant tingles from her scalp all the way down to the small of her back, Lian probably would have managed to sound as incredulous as she felt. "I've barely been able to stay on _your_ heels since we met!"

Zi snorted behind her. "I'm not _that_ difficult."

"Not difficult, no," she allowed, humming softly as gentle fingers started following the brush. "Just challenging at times, but that's a good thing."

"Hmm," was Zi's only comment; amused and low as she continued her attentions.

"You don't mind doing this, do you?" Lian wondered some moments later, when the brush had been abandoned entirely in favor of slender, light fingers, whose touch mostly made her want to curl up in her companion's lap and go to sleep.

"... no?" The reply came at length, after a somewhat confused pause. "Why do you ask?"

"Because it's usually something I have my servants do; the brushing, at least." She turned her head enough to catch Zi's eyes. "I don't want you to think that I see you as nothing more than one of them."

"I should hope not," was the wry comment while a chin came to rest on her shoulder, knees appeared on either side of her own thighs and arms wound securely around her. "If you go around kissing your servants willy-nilly, I think we need to talk."

"Cute." Lian bumped their heads together lightly, but smiled as she covered the arms encircling her waist with her own and felt the welcome sensation of Zi's warmth against her back. "I know some do that, but it's never been a habit of mine."

"Good." A kiss to the side of her throat. "I want that side of you all to myself."

"I'm glad we agree on that." Her voice dropped to a murmur when Zi's head canted to let their lips meet again, and she smiled into the kiss that soon followed. It was light and sweet; a simple expression of their affection for each other that soon grew heated, and when a careful hand guided her head to the side and scorching lips traced the line of her jaw, it was all she could do to not just grab the woman and pin her to the floor.

_Patience_, she forcibly reminded herself. _Let her explore; she's in control of so little right now, so let her have you. It's not like you don't enjoy it, hm?_

All true, but gods this was testing her, since Lian was not in any way accustomed to waiting for what she wanted. As the heir to an empire, she' never had trouble acquiring whatever caught her fancy, and what she couldn't get her hands on simply by way of who she was – like information on Death's Hand - she'd learned to find in different ways when Silk Fox came to life.

In these very moments, Silk Fox was shock; wanting to overpower, to grab and to take. The Heavenly Lily was awe; wanting to seduce, to coax and to lure.

But in the midst of the two was just Lian; wanting to love, to cherish and to please. And this was the part with which she wanted to deafen the other two, because this part – her truest self, with no regard for neither necessity nor birthright - was the part of her that Zi wanted; that Zi deserved. The part that she'd somehow seen clear as day, when even Lian herself had felt as if she'd lost it.

Fingertips dragged along her upper stomach; pushing fabric into and across sensitized skin, and somehow it felt like that touch was trying to bring that side of her up to the surface for the first time since she could really remember.

_Let it_, a little voice whispered._ You need this; you both do._

"Any tips?" came a low murmur against the side of her face.

"I haven't really done this before," Lian admitted with a chuckle, only for it to become a strangled noise of encouragement when curious fingers slid under the edge of her clothing and found the skin below her waist. "Just... um, do what you want, and-" She licked dry lips and reminded herself to breathe when the touch shifted. "Gods, you're doing fine so far."

She felt the smile against her cheek just before it moved. Then a hand shifted the entire length of her hair over her left shoulder, and Lian dug her nails into her own thighs when light – too light – kisses started tracing the faint tendons that ran from her jaw to the base of her throat. Everything was centering there, she realized; condensing into the silky softness of that mouth as it met her skin, and diverting only to the sensation of fingers as they explored the waist of Silk Fox's dark shirt.

Fuzzily, she expected that it wouldn't take long for those fingers to find the bindings that held the garment closed around her, and she was right. Zi's touch paused immediately when it encountered metal, and all she could do when she felt warm digits trace the narrow, concealed line of loops and hooks that ran along the center of her chest from her waist to her throat, was shiver.

"May I?" her companion requested, and picked lightly at the topmost closing.

Lian forced herself to breathe. "If you don't, I might have to strike you."

She felt Zi laugh against the juncture of her neck and shoulder; then deft fingers started slowly unclasping the numerous, tiny locks, and the faint graze of nails that followed in their wake made her have to choke back a moan.

"Don't." The whisper was hot, moist breath against her ear, and she could feel the rising, falling movement of Zi's chest against her back. "I want to hear you."

That alone was enough to draw another low sound from her, and she felt one arm tug her closer in sharp reaction while the hand of the other continued its work. It was unsettling that the other woman could reduce her to this so easily; could - with nothing more than her closeness and a few touches - have her shaking in her arms and unable to do anything but drown.

Unsettling, but wonderful.

The last hook released with a soft click, and before Lian even had the chance to shiver at the cold air that now far better could reach her overheated torso, hands were clasping the accessible skin on her waist, and traveling. Up and up – ever so slowly; _too_ slowly – and she wanted to weep at the feeling of tender touches to her ribs and stomach; at careful, curious lines drawn only on the very outside curves of her breasts, because it was entirely too much and not nearly enough all at once.

Roaming hands climbed further; shifting in subtle ways that she somehow managed to feel right down to her core, and the dark fabric that still partially shielded her upper body shifted with them. Away, back and down, until it settled a few inches above her elbows and left only her lower arms hidden from the gaze she could practically feel burning into her back.

"Beautiful," she heard Zi whisper, and felt a barely-there touch brush away the strands of long hair that had fallen into place to conceal the back of her neck. Then a kiss was placed there; lingering and wet, and it sent chills racing down the entire length of her spine.

Hands, then, on her shoulders; both lightly traveling from there and down to her elbows, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wakes. The fabric of her top was inched down further until she couldn't have moved her arms even if she wanted to – not from this close – and then she was pulled back until she was leaning against her companion; or her lover, as she could probably refer to her now.

Discounting such trivialities as bath times and handmaidens, Lian had never in her life been so exposed to another person, and that knowledge sent a hot blush to her cheeks. A blush that would be easily visible to the woman behind her; moreso when a touch to her chin tilted her head back until it was resting against Zi's shoulder.

"So..." Out of the corner of her eye, she could see those dark eyes watching her intently. "Light touches are good."

"Nn..." Lian wasn't sure if she'd wanted to agree or ask Zi if she even realized how much of a tease she was being, but both options flew right out of her mind when a warm hand cupped her breast and her back warped to arch into it. "Gods..."

It was all going too fast, she realized when the touch on her breast centered, and a hand started caressing the skin on her abdomen. She'd wanted to prolong this, for them to spend much more time exploring and learning about each other in this way, but she'd loved her – wanted her - for so long that she found herself desperate for her lover's touch; her body reacting with almost ferocious intensity to every single stroke of those hands and fingers against her flushed skin.

"You are so perfect right now," she heard Zi whisper, and the hot breath that her voice sent washing over her skin drew a low, prolonged whine from her throat. "So responsive..." Fingers dipped beneath the waistband of the pants that still covered her lower body, and when they brushed into the very top of her curls, her hips jerked sharply in reaction. "So sensitive..." Soft, wet lips nipped at the shell of her ear, and her head snapped back. "I don't know how I'm apparently doing everything right-" _Gods_, was she. "-but I am so, so grateful that I get to see you like this."

The digits tracing the fine hairs above her core slipped lower still, and when they met and dipped into the wetness pooling there, Lian heard her own voice break halfway through a cry.

"Only you," she promised unsteadily; half-breathing and half-sobbing while her hands clenched uselessly in the fabric that covered her thighs. "Only- Zi... please, my love..."

"I'm so glad you're mine," came another whisper, somehow deeper and more intense, and she wanted to agree – she was – but the touch was shifting again. It moved lower and became firmer, dragging over delicate, desire-slicked skin; searching as it kept pace with her erratically moving hips, and finally finding. Delving. Filling. All the while there were more words, more heated whispers against her temple, or her ear, or the side of her throat; loving, enchanting, seducing.

Whether this could still be called seduction when she was half-naked and there were fingers tenderly probing at the center of her body, Lian didn't know, but before she could attempt to consider it further, there was a hand in her hair that pulled her head to the side, followed by the sudden press of a hot tongue just below her ear that blanked her mind completely. Combined with the touches at the apex of her thighs, it resulted in a stab of almost painful pleasure that radiated through her entire being; her body wanting to buck in so many different directions that it failed to decide on one and instead just _locked_.

Tingles, spreading from her core and into her arms and legs. Pressure, rising and rising low in her belly. A hand cupping her jaw, lips on her own, and the vague knowledge that she was sobbing into her lover's mouth when the heel of a palm pressed and circled... just... _there_.

Orgasm, she'd read long ago, was the pinnacle of human pleasure, and could, if powerful enough, quite literally bring a woman to her knees. Thankfully, she was already on hers.

The pressure in her gut built and built and _built _until it burst, and Lian thought that she might have screamed. Everything was an explosion of color; warm, bright and beautiful, and somewhere, she recognized that after this, nothing would ever be the same. She was changed, renewed and awakened to a life she'd never envisioned, with a love she'd never anticipated coursing through every single vein in her body. It shook her to the core with the force of an earthquake, only to cradle her gently in an embrace so tender that it brought tears to her eyes.

It was, in every possible way, a rebirth of the heart and spirit, and it left her weak and shaking in her lover's arms.

As the seconds passed and she reluctantly came back to herself, she slowly became able to bodily feel Zi's nearness again; the secure hold she was in, and the slow, soothing tracing of her abdomen by almost tickling fingertips.

Gods above, was this what love felt like to everyone? This intense, burning need that was both protective and possessive, gentle and adoring; ultimately coming together in a nexus of emotion that was at once both debilitating and empowering?

"I can't imagine," Lian reflected as her breathing started to even out, "... that it's quite this intense for most people. Especially not the very first time."

"Hm." Zi seemed to consider her words, and she felt fingers slowly stroke through her hair. "We're not most people."

_Very true_. She studied the affectionate gaze that had settled on her face, and returned the soft smile that was pulling at the lips that she loved so dearly. Above and beyond the experiences and bloodlines that set them apart from so many others, there was a link between them; a connection that she could now almost physically feel. It tied them together with a warm, golden light; embraced them and let them cradle each other in a love so all-encompassing that it should rightly frighten her.

It was madness, in a way, that two people who were so different should fit each other so well. But if she had to go mad, Lian decided as she craned her neck to catch those lips with her own, at least this was a form she would highly enjoy, and one she would fight tooth and nail to never be free of.

The strength returned to her body as they kissed, and as she slowly unwound herself from Zi's arms, she managed to shed her restraining shirt fully. This time,_ her_ knees found purchase on either side of her lover as their lips moved together, and she felt the body that was now in front of her shift back as she moved forward. Finally, Lian was supporting her weight on her hands as she almost loomed over the other woman, who was half-lying down and only holding herself up by her own elbows.

"Mm- hang on." Zi broke the kiss this time, and moved subtly until stilling once more and meeting her eyes with a wry look. "My legs aren't meant to bend that way for prolonged periods of time," she explained.

That made Lian laugh. "I definitely want you to be comfortable," she assured her, and settled back enough that she could take the weight off her hands and instead place them on Zi's waist. Then leaning in to kiss her again, she stopped herself when she saw that the chestnut gaze had left her face, and was now intently focused on her exposed torso.

For a single heartbeat, she almost wanted to cross her arms and cover herself. Almost, because there was no denying the sheer hunger in those eyes, the dilation of Zi's pupils, or the visible flush that bloomed in her cheeks as she stared. Only when Lian touched her chin did she raise her head, and there was an intent desire cloaking her lover's entire demeanor that sent waves of heat rushing through her own veins.

"I want you again," Zi breathed, and the audible husk in her voice was enough to make Lian shiver.

"You'll have me," she promised, but still caught the hands when they went to touch her. "Tonight, however, we both need to sleep, and I _absolutely_ want to have you, first."

There was a definite obstinacy on the eyes that met her own, Lian decided. Defiance, as always, because Zi would only ever back down from a scant few things; none of which she herself had seen yet. This would probably make their relationship an occasionally tumultuous, but ultimately balanced one; neither of them were innately either dominant or submissive in any aspect of life, and they would presumably have to learn to meet each other half-way through trial and error, with respect and love as their anchors.

"Consider it extra incentive for both of us regarding tomorrow," she told her, and brought one of the hands in her grasp up to kiss its palm. "When all this is over, we can spend as much time as we want exploring each other."

Chestnut eyes narrowed. "I'm going to hold you to that."

"I certainly hope you'll hold me to other things, as well." Lian added a lecherous grin to her words, and was pleased at the eye-roll it earned her.

"You are _impossible_," Zi decreed.

"Only with you, my darling." She bent her neck to reach those lips again, and smiled at the lack of resistance that met her as she slowly drew her lover into another kiss. Zi's skin was already hot beneath her hands as they slipped under her vest-like top, and she could feel the repeated rushes of shallow breaths caress the lower half of her face, as well as the clenching of lean abdominal muscles under her fingers.

It was very easy to lose herself in this; in smooth skin, honey-sweet lips and soft sounds of pleasure. Barely even one time, and Lian already found herself utterly addicted. Beneath the satiny, deceptive covering of feminine curves and silken skin, she felt the shift of solid, powerful muscle whenever Zi moved, and the low moans she drew from her as she explored and learned at the same time was the sweetest music she'd ever heard. Every spot her hands touched, every place her lips kissed only served to drive her lover higher, and she wondered at the skill they both so easily displayed with such a lack of experience.

Perhaps, she mused as they separated just enough to maneuver Zi's top over her head and out of the way, it was a feature of the link they apparently shared; the warm, pulsing connection that she could feel more and more the longer she touched her. If it tied them together as strongly as she sensed that it did, perhaps it was also transmitting some amount of knowledge; giving them both an awareness of each other that was guiding them.

Hands found her hips while the lips beneath her own slipped away, though whatever had been on the tip of her lover's tongue was interrupted by a low whine when Lian simply moved back and shifted her mouth to the side of a breast. "Oh, gods, Lian..." Zi was clearly breathless and her eyes only barely open, but still, her gaze sharpened, and she felt fingers clasp the waist of her leggings. "Off!" came the gruff demand.

As direct as ever, she considered, and grinned against the skin beneath her lips. "I'll have to get up for that," she reminded her.

A sound that was half-groan, half-growl was her answer, and while she waited for a decision, she traced her tongue around the edges of a nipple, then took the pebbled flesh into her mouth just to see what would happen. She certainly wasn't disappointed; Zi's entire upper body almost lifted clean off the floor, and the curse she let loose as her head snapped back was one that even Lian had to dig through her memory to find.

"Such language," she tsked, and had to suppress a smile when hazy, chestnut eyes somehow managed to find her face and narrow in a glare.

"Damn you, woman." Zi's tone of voice betrayed her words, however, and the affection in her eyes was clear even when her grasp moved to her shoulders and pushed her back. "Fine. But make it quick or I'm coming after you."

"Whatever you say, Your Highness." She very consciously repeated her lover's teasing words from earlier as she smoothly got to her feet; face serious, but aware that her eyes were probably glinting.

"Phbbt," was the sole reply as the other woman rose onto her elbows once more to follow her with her eyes, and the expression on her face was such a perfect mix of desire and frustration that Lian simply had to smile. Either that or laugh, and she doubted the latter would be received well.

Taking a few steps off to the side and turning a fraction, Lian took care to use just a little more movement than was really needed. From the corner of her eye, she could see the flickering candlelight move across Zi's exposed skin, and if _she_ was admiring the glistening shadows, she could only imagine what the similar sight of her was doing to her temporarily thwarted companion. Besides, she considered as she slid the material halfway down her thighs, it was a very nice, almost powerful feeling to have those eyes practically burning into her skin.

When she bent at the waist and fully pushed down her leggings, however, she felt the gaze leave her and heard a low, agonized groan that made her pause and turn her head in surprise; only to see Zi thumping the back of her own skull down against the bedroll, over and over.

"What on earth are you doing?" she wondered.

"Cursing the fact that we have to _sleep_," was the growling reply as the head stilled, and Zi glared up at the hide ceiling. "Sun Li is going to pay for this."

Officially counting herself as both highly amused and intensely flattered, Lian stepped out of her pants and footwear and made her way back towards the bedroll. The chestnut eyes overtly roamed her naked form as she approached, and when she settled herself on her knees next to her lover's supine frame, she both felt and saw the minute shivers that traveled through Zi's entire body from the effort she made to hold herself back. It was an intoxicating feeling to be desired at this level, she considered, and she would have to make sure to show exactly how much it was returned.

"You don't have to restrain yourself quite _that_ much," she told her as she found the ties that held up the short, blue and red skirt on Zi's hips; mainly because it was actually painful to watch her struggle with herself. "You can touch me, my love. Just don't distract me too much."

Zi's gaze lifted from where it had been watching her fingers untie the knots, and a crooked grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. "I don't know which one of us would be more distracted, to be honest," she admitted, and Lian felt a hand lightly cup her face. "So it might be better than I don't touch you, or at least stick to places like your shoulders."

Lian shook her head in amusement, but not enough to dislodge the hand. "Well, if what you feel for me is anything like what I feel for you-" A thumb traced her lower lip, and she kissed it. "- then I can't really argue, can I?"

"I should hope not," Zi agreed, and there was only a faint blush on her cheeks when Lian touched her hip, and she lifted herself to let the now loosened skirt be tugged out from under her.

Then they were both naked, and Lian was suddenly gaining a new respect for the restraint her lover was capable of, if this was how Zi had felt when she saw her fully bared body for the first time. There was so much _skin_ on display now; smooth and sun-darkened and shimmering in the golden light. In fact...

"Do I want to know why your entire body is evenly tanned?" she questioned.

"I grew up in a small village," Zi answered with a shrug. "The best way to cool down after training was to strip naked and go for a swim, and it was easy to find a spot where no one else was around."

Lian dipped her head to kiss an area where she knew that she herself had a slight change in skin tone; the indent where her lover's thigh connected to her torso. "If you say so," she murmured against the skin there, then nipped it lightly, and smiled when she heard the sharp, hitched breath.

"I think you're trying to drive me mad," came an uneven accusation long moments later; when she'd let her mouth travel across the tender skin on Zi's lower belly, and was now tasting the same juncture on the opposite side of her body. Her voice was husky – almost choked – and Lian could feel every jump and twitch in the tendons below her lips as the hips beneath her struggled to not buck. Five fingers had long since buried themselves in her hair, and when she closed her lips around a patch of skin near the other woman's inner thigh and sucked, the hand clenched hard enough to make her scalp sting.

She released the spot after several heartbeats, then bit down lightly in exchange for a ragged inhale, which was followed by a low, hoarse whimper when she soothed the now bruised skin with her tongue. It was surprisingly heady to see it – a small, semi-circle of red that was slowly turning purple – and know that she was the one responsible for it; that she had _marked_ her lover.

_Mine_.

"Lian, please..." The hand in her hair was tugging; guiding, and while the direction hardly surprised her, she did wonder if Zi realized what she was asking for.

Lian knew, thanks to a particularly instructive tome that had made her 14-year old self blush for months whenever she remembered it, and at this unanticipated reminder, her curiosity was awakened. Uncertain, she lifted her gaze to the tanned face and saw her lover's eyes tightly closed, brow furrowed and chest heaving while her skin glittered bronze under a faint coating of sweat, and decided that no; Zi probably didn't know what she was nudging her towards. She seemed to be running solely on instinct.

Still, the idea was an enticing one, and made only more so by the faintly musky scent that was starting to make her head swim. She waited, though; until chestnut eyes opened and met her own in hazy confusion.

"I'm going to use my mouth on you," she told her softly, and watched Zi's eyes flicker when she trailed a single finger through the copious wetness. "Do you know what I mean by that?"

"Hnn..." The hand in her hair clenched again when the dark head fell back, and when her finger found a tiny protrusion between swollen lips, a second hand wrapped around her wrist and held her still. "Please!"

"Close enough." Her moving away drew a groan of complaint from her lover's throat, but it was only a brief pause; one that enabled her to settle down with her shoulders between strong, slender thighs. The positioning earned her another look; this one still confused, but clearer and more alert as Zi studied her, panting.

Lian winked at her, and then ducked her head.

"AH!" Legs clamped tightly around her ears the second she made contact, but she'd anticipated that and deftly wrapped her arms around one thigh each; gently coaxing them a little further apart, since one look up the length of the toned body told her that the only thing that would catch Zi's attention right now would be stopping entirely. That was not an option; she'd decided as much at the first taste. The other woman did have enough mental discipline to keep some small presence of mind, though; she realized that much when the hand that had been pulling sharply on her hair suddenly released. Then Zi merely held the back of her head; fingers gentle against her scalp as she seemed to channel the clenching and tremors into her arm instead, and even managed to make her hips stop bucking. Her back and shoulders, however, were warping and jerking constantly, and halted only in brief heartbeats of sharply defined tension whenever Lian's tongue found a sensitive spot.

She reveled in the flavor coating her taste buds, and in the constant noises emitting from her lover's throat; hoarse, breathless cries and moans that sometimes cracked halfway through, and broke entirely at others. Mostly, she reveled in the simple fact that Zi trusted her enough to let her love her in such an intimate way, because how could a person make themselves any more physically vulnerable than this?

One hand, she realized, was tearing at the bedroll below them in a desperate search for something to grab on to; a notion that Lian recognized from her own experiences earlier, and she quickly released one leg and clasped the clawing hand in her own. Zi bucked again under her attentions – this time hard enough for her shoulders to lift over a feet away from the soft furs – and when her head snapped up hard enough for her chin to meet her chest, the expression on her face made Lian's insides clench. The taut pulls in her facial muscles, the sweat coating her forehead and the sharp twisting of her lips made her look as if she was almost in pain, which wasn't entirely unlikely. As she had learned herself, it was fully possible for pleasure to become so intense that it almost hurt, and the sight only served to redouble her efforts.

_I bring her this_, her mind exulted as her tongue flattened and Zi keened lowly in response when she let it drag across sensitized nerve endings; the tendons in her throat standing out in sharp relief in the flickering light. _I make her feel this_.

It was another in a long list of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen; all revolving around the woman who was currently shifting and writhing against her, and when Zi's eyes somehow managed to look at her in spite of the barrage of sensation, they were so lost, but so open and vulnerable – loving, _pleading_ – that Lian felt her heart skip several beats.

"Li- oh, Gods!" Fingers pressed into her scalp and tightened around her hand as her lover sobbed brokenly into the cool air; back warping and chest arching towards the heavens. "My love, my light... please don't stop... don't st- LIAN!"

Stillness, then, of both voice and body, broken only by the sound of ragged, hitching breaths, and Zi's entire frame was a study in agonizing, wonderful tension; every single, slender muscle outlined in a sensual, sightly display of gilded light and murky shadow as she froze completely in the wrenching wake of her release. Lian watched through hungry eyes; willing herself to memorize how her lips parted, how strands of obsidian hair clung to her glistening face, and how her muscles tightened and released rapidly just beneath the surface of her skin. Every sight, scent and sound about this moment, she wanted to be burned into her mind forever.

A breath then; deep and uneven, and the tension faded from her body in an instant while tears started leaking from behind tightly closed eyes the second her back thumped weakly against the sleeping furs. Lian gently extracted herself and placed soft kisses along the center of the damp, erratically moving belly and chest, and found herself pulled into a watery, tender kiss the very second she reached her lips. It was, in a perfect example of things coming full circle, sweet and light; lasting long enough for the thundering heartbeat she could feel under one hand to settle, and for the emotional tears to dry on Zi's face.

"You are going to _kill me_, woman," was the low murmur against her lips; hoarse and weary while loving fingers traced her face, and Lian let a soft laugh escape her in response.

"You're welcome," she whispered, and watched heavy eyelids flutter over deep, dark eyes; their foreheads resting gently against each other as their lips continued to brush ever so faintly.

Zi was falling asleep, she realized affectionately. That was beyond fair, though; it was late on an evening that had been both emotionally and physically exhausting, and she _had_ come back from the dead just scant hours earlier. There was no cause for Lian to take even the slightest offense, so all she did was quickly assure herself that all the candles were dying before she settled against her lover's side, and tugged the thick blanket up to cover both of them.

"I love you," came the sleepy murmur against the top of her head, and she smiled into the shoulder she was resting on.

"And that is the greatest gift of my life," she promised softly, and kissed the warm skin. "I love you, too."

"Mrrmn." An arm wound around her back from beneath to tug her closer, and she felt the halting caress of a thumb over the skin of her hip. Zi's breathing deepened and evened slowly; soon becoming almost soundless as she slipped into dreams.

Good ones, Lian hoped, and watched the guttering candlelight cast blinking shadows over sun-darkened skin as she listened to the steady heartbeat beneath her ear. She would probably need them, but was there any point in worrying when there was nothing she could do herself, either way?

The morrow would bring what the morrow would bring, she decided as she nestled closer, and felt the arm around her tighten in return even as her lover slept. Right now, in this moment, everything was perfect.

Absolutely, undeniably perfect.

xXxXx

**Author's notes:**  
I feel as if the quality of this piece has several up and downs, so if you've gotten to this point, thanks for sticking it out. I'm currently struggling with a condition that's wreaking havoc on both my concentration and my memory, and getting halfway through a sentence before forgetting where I wanted it to go is hardly conductive to fluidity. Writing this took _ages;_ even considering the size.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to tell me what you think; I only improve through criticism.

*passes out*


End file.
